Steampunk Checks?

[J. Wilhelm]

Steampunk Checks?

Yes please!  Make mine for $948  I have to pay my rent!

Actually the modern "Victorianesque" checks are not that uncommon in the banking world.  Besides the obvious "Wild-West" choices ("Wells Fargo") there is Frost Bank in Texas, who make liberal use of Victorian and Wild West themes in their banks as well, constantly reminding customers that they started as a trading post of sorts in 1858.  They use old-bill motifs for their cheques and for their debit cards

Perhaps I will end up opening an account with Wells Fargo & Co.

NO DON'T DO IT!  I am about to leave it.  

Banks are like telephone companies...they sneak up hidden charges and change the rules without you realizing it.  You have to leave them after a few years, and continue rotating....

[Essex Bounty]

I don´t think I´ve seen anyone pay by check for the last decade.

Really?  I stopped renting less than two years ago and up until then, everyone I know pays rent/mortgage by check.

[celephicus]

I don´t think I´ve seen anyone pay by check for the last decade.

Really?  I stopped renting less than two years ago and up until then, everyone I know pays rent/mortgage by check.

I am in training for becoming a slum landlord (fine Victorian profession) with one property, my tenants routinely pay by cheque so that they can be technically on time with payment but not have to actually pay the money for a few days.

Incidentally in Victorian times a cheque could be written on anything as long as the words were of the correct form. One man paid a debt by writing his cheque on the hide of an angry bull with considerable attitude, and a lawsuit ensued as the bank not unreasonably refused to accept it! Or how about the man who paid his ex-wife weekly cheques with the payee made out to "adulterer", so that the unfortunate woman had to slander herself in order to cash the cheque.

Oh those crazy Victorians.

[Major Willoughby Chase]

There are a few places that allow you to put your own photos on cheques, so you might be able to use artwork as the "photo", but generally speaking, getting special cheques is not that simple due to the requirements the (US at least) government has for printing them.  And you'll never get away from the blocky digits at the bottom of the cheque since they are required to be there and to look that way (just FYI).

The UK has also set in motion the elimination of paper cheques in the next few years in favor of debit cards.  So not many banks will likely be willing to do designs beyond what they have in-place already.

Not to burst anyone's bubble or anything.

JIT

Actually, I'm fairly sure that public outcry has put paid to the disappearance of cheques now...

Personal cheques still exist, however they are no longer a guaranteed payment method, there is no cheque guarantee card system.  They are only really useful for making payments to people who trust that the money will be forthcoming, or to charities, birthday cards and such.  Company cheques are still accepted in many places (with us as long as they have Ltd, Plc etc, but never if T/A).  The main problem is that cheque fraud was a massive problem in the UK and there was no point in trying to improve cheques as there was already a better system in place.

[Justin Time]

Personal cheques still exist, however they are no longer a guaranteed payment method, there is no cheque guarantee card system.  They are only really

I guess that would depend on where you use them.  Several businesses have the ability to use the cheque to make an instant debit from your account via electronic processing, though that has given way more-and-more to debit card use.

Cheque fraud in the US became a huge problem in the 90s and is still a problem now (but to a lesser degree) thanks to the government relaxing its standards with respect to cheque production.  Allowing people to create/print their own cheques at home/home office could only ever lead to more fraud.

JIT